Longtime Blue Ridge Electric CEO retires Friday

Friday, Jan. 12, will be the final work day for longtime Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative President and CEO Charles Dalton. Dalton is only the second person to hold the utility’s top job during its 77-year history, explains Terry Ballenger, Vice President of Communications for Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative. “His last day is actually this coming Friday. he will step down from the CEO position on Friday coming and Jim Lovingood, who is a 35-year employee here at Blue Ridge currently serving as Vice President of Engineering will step into the position. We believe that it is going to be a very smooth transition because Charles and Jim have known each other all their lives practically, worked well together and Jim has the same philosophical outlook on business that Mr. Dalton did and does. So, we expect things to just continue to rock along here like they always have. As far as Charles’s contribution to this organization in his 36-years here, he has been a person that has paid close attention to the details but he has also been able to see the big picture. I can say as a person who has been here 47-years myself that the Cooperative has moved forward on just about every front you can think of, making improvements to the way we operate. The Cooperative is in a good position today and it is the effective leadership that Mr. Dalton has provided that has a great deal to do with that.” When Dalton assumed the helm, the Cooperative was supplying service to 29,000 members. During his 36-year tenure, that number has grown to 66,000 today.